Rachel Sahaidachny from the Indiana Writers Center talks about resources libraries can use to celebrate national poetry month

1. National Poetry Month
Get Your Community Involved

2. Indiana Writers Center
Where Indiana Writers Find a Home

3. www.indianawriters.org
Rachel Sahaidachny
IWC Programs Manager
Rachel@indianawriters.org
317-255-0710

4. About the Indiana Writers Center
At the Indiana Writers Center (IWC), we believe everyone has a unique story
to tell; and our goal is simple: to help you tell it. For more than 30 years we
have worked to foster a vibrant writing community in Indiana, providing
education and enrichment opportunities for both beginning and
accomplished writers. Located in the Cultural Complex of the Indianapolis
Art Center in Broad Ripple, we offer a variety of classes and workshops led by
some of Indiana’s best writers. In addition, we host literary events such as
readings, open mics, critique groups, and the annual Gathering of Writers to
instruct, inspire, and connect writers throughout the state.
The IWC also provides community outreach programs in schools, community
organizations, nursing homes and correctional facilities, helping people of
diverse ages and backgrounds to find their voices.

5. Celebrate National
Poetry Month with Us!
Join us for a reception honoring Shari
Wagner, Indiana Poet Laureate.
For more information about Shari’s plans as
Poet Laureate visit her website:
Through the Sycamores: Exploring the
Hoosier Landscape with Indiana’s Poet
Laureate
www.throughthesycamores.com

6. Invite a Poet!
The best way to get people excited about poetry is to read it out loud
and discuss poems together.
• Schedule a free weekend or evening poetry writing workshop
• Chose a poetry book for the month, and have a poet lead discussion
group
• Host a poetry reading
• Have an Open Mic
Suggested budget for a 1 ½-2 hour workshop or discussion, $100

7. Where are the Poets?
Local Writers Organizations & Groups
• Brick Street Poetry (Zionsville): www.brickstreetpoetry.org
• Indiana Writers Center (Indianapolis): www.indianawriters.org
• Indiana Writers’ Consortium (Hammond): www.indianawritersconsortium.org
• Last Stanza Poetry Association (Elwood): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Last-
Stanza-Poetry-Association/132639496814167
• NI: Northeast Indiana Poets (Fort Wayne):
www.facebook.com/groups/486678951428374/
• Poets Laureate of Lawrence (Lawrence):
www.lawrenceartcenter.net/poetslaureate
• The Writers Guild at Bloomington (Bloomington):
www.writersguildbloomington.com
• Reach out to the English department at your local university.

8. National Resources
• Academy of American Poets offers a free poster to create a display for
National Poetry Month: www.poets.org.
• Poetry Foundation offers free downloads of the April issue of POETRY
magazine: www.poetryfoundation.org.

9. Best Poetry Books
Several national awards nominate the best books of poems from the
past year, and are a great place to start for building your recommended
reading lists.
• National Book Foundation: www.nationalbook.org
• National Book Critics Circle Awards: www.bookcritics.org
• Kingsley Tufts Poetry Awards: www. cgu.edu/pages/6056.asp
For local writers check out the Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Author
Awards: www.indianaauthorawards.org.

10. National Award-winning Indiana Poets
Ross Gay’s Catalog of
Unabashed Gratitude, winner
of the NBCCA & Kingsley Tufts
Poetry Award, 2016
Marianne Boruch’s The Book of
Hours, winner of the Kingsley Tufts
Poetry Awards, 2013
Adrian Matejka’s The Big Smoke,
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award,
finalist of National Book Award
2013 & Pulitzer Prize 2014

11. April 21, 2016
• Every April, on Poem in Your Pocket Day, people
celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with
them, and sharing it with others throughout the
day at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks,
workplaces, and on Twitter using the hashtag
#pocketpoem.
• Indiana Writers Center shares poems from
Indiana Writers, with the poet’s permission.
• www.poets.org has a PDF download of poems
with permissions to print and handout

12. Dear Poet Project
Create a letter writing station.
Students grades 5-12 are invited to
write letters responding to poems
from poets of the Academy of
American poets.
Videos of poets reading their poems
are posted online:
www.poets.org/national-poetry-
month/dear-poet-project. Have a
computer reserved for viewing and
reading the poems.
All letters are considered for
publication.

13. Engage in Writing Poems
• Consider an “Exquisite Corpse” poem for your library.
An Exquisite Corpse is a collaborative poem, which people add to one line at
a time. Created by the surrealists movement, traditionally the poem’s lines
are hidden by folding the paper over, and only the last written line is
exposed, to be added to by the next person.
Imagine what a wonder would exist by the end of the month!
• Create a poetry section display and offer a chalkboard or whiteboard,
welcoming people to write favorite lines of poems they have read from the
recommended poetry reading lists, or they could write lines of their own
creation inspired by the reading.

14. National Poetry Month in Indiana
• Indiana Arts Commission appoints the IN Poet
Laureate every two years. Currently Shari Wagner
serves her term. Past laureates include George
Kalamaras, Karen Kovacik, Norbert Krapf, and
others. For updates on poetry in the state visit
www.in.gov/arts/2393.htm.
• Indiana Humanities and IN Poet Laureate partner
every April to publish poems from poets around
Indiana on the Indiana Humanities website.
www.indianahumanities.org/category/poetry

15. Planning an event? Don’t forget to share.
• The Indiana Writers Center has a weekly eBlast reaching over 2,000
people interested in writing events and opportunities. We also keep a
running blog which lists literary events from all over the state. Email
your literary events to mail@indianawriters.org and we would be
happy to get the word out!
• The Indy Literary Arts group is made up of individuals from several
literary organizations in the Indianapolis area in an effort to share and
promote literary news and events. Post to their page on Facebook to
share with their audience.
www.facebook.com/www.indyliteraryarts.org